White Feathers
by BlueCamellia
Summary: The SPR are hired by a famous politician to investigate the strange haunting involving his teenage daughter Noaki. CannonxCannon, OCxOC. Rating May Increase.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I do not in any way own Ghost Hunt or any of its affliated characters. I do however, own Torashi Paranormal Research.

* * *

Prologue

To say that the house was large, would have been a very dramatic understatement. Craning her neck backwards as far as she physically could, seventeen year old Mai Taniyama stood with her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide as she took in the location of their next case. Suddenly, she was _very_ thankful Naru had all but ordered her to pack for a long stay.

Ever one to state the obvious, Mai rehinged her jaw and turned to stare wide eyes at the three men currently unloading the SPR van.

"This place is HUGE!" The girls gasped. Lin ignored her outburst, choosing instead to start up the small set of stone steps that lead into the house. Bou half-ignored her, giving her a quick smile then leaning against the van to stare at the huge house, suddenly becoming very tired at the thought of the amount of work they would have to do. Naru however, did what Naru does best. He glanced up at her, glared, and spewed out an insult.

"Yes, thank you Mai. I had already noticed that" Well, half an insult. Annoyed, Mai puffed up her cheeks and angrily stomped her way back over the the van, snatching the closest object. A small monitor. Unfortunately, the wire was hanging loose, and her sudden moving of the small screen caused the plug to swing outwards and knock Naru rather sharply on the right side of his knee.

Startled the girl looked downwards at the sudden noise, her eyes widening as the plug hit her boss's knee with a (seemingly) satisfying _thunk_. In normal circumstances, Mai would have been horrified to have caused Naru any sort of injury, and usually would have fallen over herself trying to apologise by this point.

But today, she was annoyed. Today she had been woken up and 4am by a rude voice ordering her to leave her warm comfy bed and pack clothes. Today, Mai Taniyama was going to be, for all purposes of the word, a git.

"Whoops!" She sang happily, and beamed a smile up at the older man. Then, spinning on her heel Mai trotted towards the stone stairway, wrapping the offending cord around her arm as an after thought. As she walked away Bou let out a snort of amusement, tilting his head to look at his young boss.

"Perky this morning isnt she?" The man laughed, standing upright and stretching his tall form. Naru simply grunted in response turned away from the Monk to pick up his own monitor.

"Lets get this inside before that rain comes" He said, looking up at the grumpy looking rain clouds slowly making their way towards them from the east. Bou sighed, but did as he was told. Last thing he needed was Naru forcing him to work off ruining his equipment...

* * *

Ten minutes later, the considerably smaller SPR team- having been shown to their base (a conference room usually used for large meetings) by an elderly butler who refereed to himself as 'Tomago' – were already half way unpacked.

Lin had already started putting up the metal shelves when Mai had arrived in the base, the younger girl putting her monitor safely on the only available table then offering to help. But the time Naru and Bou entered the base, half of the monitors were set up and working (although only showing static in some cases) and Mai had already made herself at home in the tiny kitchenette that branched off the side of the room.

After nearly two years of employment, Mai had learned to be one step ahead of Naru when it came to his tea. On big cases like this one, she had learned that the first thing out of his mouth when they had finished organising the base was-

"Mai tea!"

Allowing herself a small smirk, Mai walked out of the kitchenette with his royal highnesses tea already ready made and balancing on a plastic tray. Plopping his cup down in front of him, Mai then walked around him and set another cup down in front of Lin. He preferred black coffee over tea. Then she skirted around the older man to hand Bou his Iced Coffee.

The next ten minutes were spent plugging in all of the monitors and making sure everything was up and running. As they had not yet set up any camera's in any of the main rooms, the only monitor that showed a picture was in the base. Sighing, Mai stretched her arms above her head to work out the ache that had formed during the last half hour. She knew she would be the one nominated to go from room to room setting up the rest of the cameras – then taking each corresponding rooms temperature, so for the time being she enjoyed the small moment of peace. But there was a question bugging her at the back of her mind.

"Ne, Naru?" The man in question grunted, a sign that he was listening to her.

"What exactly is going on here? I mean, I don't remember anyone coming in and requesting a case yesterday...or the day before" Mai asked. Naru glanced at her, then at Bou who had plopped himself down on a plastic chair and was now looking at the younger man with interest. Clearly he was in the dark as much as Mai.

"That's because this case was requested late last night" He said in a way of response. Mai frowned, confused.

"Huh?"

Naru sighed, one that the group had labelled the 'Once-again-I-have-to-explain-everything-to-Mai' sigh.

"The case was requested by Satoshi Matsuhashi, a man i'm sure you know appreciates his privacy"

Mai blinked, as clueless as she was about the goings on of Japan's Government, she recognised the name. From what she had gathered from watching the news early in the morning before her custom mad dash to work, Matsuhashi was a very well know politician who was causing a stir within the financial world. Mai didn't know much, but she was sure something was mentioned about the politician trying to increase some sort of tax in order to put more funding into Japan's educational system.

Bou whistled and leaned back in his chair.

"Matsuhashi? Damn...I can understand him having a few enemies, but living ones. What are we doing here?" He asked. Naru sighed again and put down the folder he had been leafing through.

"We were called in because of his daughter Noaki. From what I deduced from his phone call last night, she seems to be the victim of a very unusual haunting..."

"Unusual?" Mai asked. Naru gave a small nod.

"Yes. Even though I have seen no proof of this so far, according to her father, Noaki has been suffering physical abuse from some sort of spirit, a spirit that has been cutting feathers into her skin"

Mai's eyes widened in surprise, even Lin seemed startled.

"Feathers?" The girl asked.

"That was the only information I got last night...That, and this case needs to be treated with extreme secrecy. I was informed that there have been several instances of members of the press disguising themselves as staff"

Bou looked thoughtful for a second then shrugged and leaned back in his chair, his iced tea suddenly reappearing in his hand.

"Well, I can understand that" Mai frowned at looked at each of them men around her in turn.

"Why would a spirit cut feathers into someone's skin?" She asked. Naru gave her a look that clearly said he was going to say something derogatory, but a new voice suddenly spoke up from the doorway, startling the four SPR members.

"The question isn't how, its why" Surpised, Mai turned towards the door, which until that point had been closed. A short, dark haired girl stared back at her. Clearly a foreigner, blue eyes peaked out from behind thick dark hair and a a pair of silver rimmed classes. Dressed in very casual jeans and a black button up jumper, the girl happily walked into the base, one of her hands gripping the strap of a heavy looking black bag. She glanced around at the four people in the room before her eyes settled on Mai.

Then, the girl smiled, a gesture that caused one side of her mouth the stretch upwards – instantly giving her the look of mischief. Brushing her dark bangs out of her eyes, the girl hoisted up the heavy looking bag further up her shoulder and held out her free hand.

"Samantha Laurel, Torashi Paranormal Research. Pleased to meet you!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter One

"Torashi Paranomal Research...?" Mai repeated, very confused.

Still smiling, the dark haired girl, Samantha, lowered the hand Mai had been shocked enough to shake – even though the gesture seemed strange considering the proper way of greeting others - and glanced around the room, this time her eyes settling on Naru.

Snapping somewhat out of her daze, Mai felt the familiar anger – the grumpiness that always came when a woman eyeballed Naru – stir in the pit of her stomach. But Samantha simply grinned and adjusted her bag again.

"You must be Kazuya...And, judging by that angry look on your face, you didn't know we were here" She said, and she sounded positively delighted about that fact. Over his surprise, Naru's gaze hardened on the foreign girl and her let his eyes wonder over her. Taking in the large bag – which obviously contained a camera of some sort. A shell bracelet on her wrist, the silver pendant around her neck, both of them emitting some sort of spiritual aura that Naru ignored but told himself to look into later on that day.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch your name..." He said. Samantha's smile stayed in place and she stepped around Mai to stand close enough to Naru to hold out her hand. He hesitated then shook it.

"Samantha Laurel. But as were all going to be working together for a while, you can call me Miss Laurel" Sam said, then she looked over her shoulder at Mai and winked.

"_You _can call me Sam"

Bou gave a startled but amused scoff, that he hid quickly with a cough when Naru glared at him. Sam glanced at him grinned.

"Well, _Miss Laurel_, can I ask what you are doing here?" Turning back to the now very annoyed man, Sam shrugged and tapped her bag with a finger.

"I was told to put up camera's in every room on the first floor. I had hoped you hadn't arrived yet so I could do it in secret...but, well, I guess I can do it when your all asleep" Sam laughed, and took a step away from Naru, quite obviously wiping her hand on the side of her jeans as though Naru had left something unpleasant on her skin.

Having already decided he did not like this woman, Naru raised himself to his full height and glared down at the smaller woman – who's head just about reached his chin. She cocked aforementioned head and smiled in amusement.

"I meant 'What are you doing in the house' not this specific room" Samantha shrugged again and turned away from him, her sharp blue gaze taking in everything in the room. Although, she seemed to be focusing more on the ceiling and the walls more than the equipment.

"We, as in, Torashi Paranormal Research were hired yesterday by Mr Matsuhashi to investigate his home" She said, glancing over her shoulder at Naru, still smiling softly.

"I was not aware that Matsuhashi had hired another paranormal research group" Naru said, he had leant against the table at this point, annoyance radiating from him in almost visible waves. Mai, having managed to snap herself out whatever daze she had fallen into, walked over and stood next to him, looking up and her angry boss then over at the newcomer, who suddenly spun on her heel to face to two of them. Lin simply stayed where he was sitting, turned slightly in his seat to watch the unfolding event. Bou lounged backwards on his seat, looking highly amused.

"Neither were we. But, all animosity aside, I can understand why he did" Sam said, the smile now gone and a very serious look appearing on her face. Surprised at the sudden change in the girls behaviour, Naru's eyes widened, the annoyance momentarily replaced with curiosity.

"How so?"

Samantha sighed and lifted her head to stare at the ceiling again.

"There's...something, in this house which I don't think anyone should be messing with..." Confused, Mai also glanced up at the ceiling, seeing nothing but white paint and electric lights.

She opened her mouth to question what exactly this 'something' was, but for the second time in half an hour, someone interrupted them.

Knocking softly on the open door, Tomago, the elderly butler who had escorted to group into the house, shuffled into the room. His old eyes fixing instantly on Sam.

"Ah, Miss Laurel, Your companions are looking for you" He said politely. The smile reappeared on Sam's face and she politely bowed to the elderly butler.

"Thank you Tomago" Then, turning towards the four SPR members, she bowed again, lifting the side of her jumper in a mock curtsy.

"Until next time Mr Kazuya. Mai" She said, giving Mai another cheeky wink. Then, hoisting the heavy bag once more up her shoulder, she walked casually out of the room. Nodding respectfully to Tomago as she passed him. The butler followed her and closed the door after giving a small nod. The group simply stared after them, and Mai let herself fall backwards until she leant on the table, suddenly feeling exhausted. Well, that was...interesting.

Bou voice his agreement with a bemused scoff, standing up from his seat and walking over to his younger companions.

"I wonder if everyone in this Torashi group are the same as her?" He laughed, and raised his hand to affectionately ruffle Mai's hair as she gave him a wide eyed look.

"I would be rather annoyed with our client if they were..." Naru said quietly, and then promptly walked away from the two of them to set himself down in a chair opposite Lin's new work station. The Chinese man simply turned back to his computer to resume typing.

"Mai, you and Bou take the camera's and set them up across the first floor. Take each rooms temperature too. But before you go, tea" And with that the dark haired man turned away from them and reopened his file, deeming their existence unnecessary for time being. Scowling, Mai huffed and blew out her cheeks, stomping her way into the small kitchenette.

So much for a little moments peace...

* * *

Lifting the now empty bag off the ground and putting the strap over her head, Sam used her foot to push the infra-red camera's wire out the way of the stairway – the location it was actually intended for. The sleek black appliance bleeped softly, signalling that Shouji had connected the camera to the computers back in their base. Then, pushing her hair out of her eyes, she made her way back up the stair way and up to the second floor, where Matsuhashi had assigned their base.

They were a funny lot, the SPR group...Sam mused. Allowing herself a small smile of victory, the girl glanced around the elegant corridors of the manor, taking in the expensive looking paintings adoring the walls, the polish dark wood laminate flooring, the soft cushion like feel of the maroon red rugs. Seeing everything without actually registering it, the girl let her mind wonder.

As Aoi would say, Sam's purpose in life was to annoy people. And the young woman was fine with that. Had even polished the art to perfection – making sure to always leave the TPR's clientèle feeling very thankful for their work, but willing to commit murder if they – or rather, she – should ever return. It really was a good thing that the TPR team were very good at their jobs...otherwise Sam was certain she alone would have scared away any future clients simply by saying hello.

Suddenly stopping, Sam's smile disappeared from her face and she became very serious. Annoying the SPR was one thing...but she had a feeling that little group had no idea what they were getting themselves into. Frowning, Sam turned to stare in the general direction of the SPR's base. Did any of them possess any sort of spiritual power? It was obvious that they all had useful abilities but...they had not even been here for a day and already what ever was in this house had targeted them. Or rather...it had targeted two of them. Surly _one_ of them had to have noticed they'd been traced?

Lifting her hand, she glared down at the pale skin, giving a small look of disgust. Walking over to a very pretty and intricate gold tapestry hanging on one of the walls, Sam grabbed the material and roughly rubbed it over her hands, as if trying to wipe something oily off her skin.

Fellow 'investigators' or not, she was not about to do that again. Removing what could only be described as a giant neon arrow with a 'Over Here!' sign from one human was one thing, but to remove it from two was just plain disgusting. She needed to take a hot shower...

Letting out a defeated sign, Sam continued to her base and pushed the SPR team from her mind. She had a job to do, and she'd be damned if a small mismatched group of researches was going to stop her from doing it.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Letting out a very loud exhausted sigh, Mai allowed herself to fall backwards onto her bed. One of a set of three, her bed for the next week or so was that odd mix between soft but very old, even through the pale blue bedding she could feel the springs attempting to break through the mattress and poke into her skin.

Groaning and raising her hand to rub tiredly Mai sat up to take a better look at her room. The walls were painted with a soft cream with nice blue and white curtains and rugs placed aesthetically around the rectangle shaped room. Mai's bed, or rather, the bed she had chosen when she fell on it after staggering into the room, was a little larger than a standard single bed. Each of the three beds in the room had matching blue and white bedding.

It was a very relaxing and elegant bedroom. The other beds were there for, Mai was half positive, Ayako and Masako if were needed on the case. That, or she had a very big, very spacious room to herself for the duration of the case. Maybe she should push all three beds together

As most of the staff employed at the Matsuhashi Manor would not be back until tomorrow, and that included Noaki Mastuhashi, Naru had told everyone to get some sleep - after she had set up seventeen camera's, taking seventeen room's temperatures and made him three cups of tea, obviously.

Letting out another sigh, Mai stood up and tried to stretch the ache out of her shoulders. Then, glancing around her around the room to locate her suitcase, she plodded over to get her nightclothes .Another thing she had learnt during these long cases is to never unpack more than one set of clothes until she was certain they were going to be staying for longer than two days. After the Urado case, Mai had vowed to always treat cases in houses such as these as 'short stays'

As she pulled her t-shirt over her head, Mai let her mind pick at the little details she knew of this case. After Samantha's memorable visit, Naru had given them a little more information about what was going on.

Noaki Matsuhashi, their clients daughter was around sixteen and currently on suspension in a public school closer to the city. About seven months ago Noaki was send home after falling and breaking her arm during Gym class. Her teachers said she slipped, but in her medical report Noaki had forcefully stated she was pushed. After that, Noaki kept being injured in increasingly bizarre accidents, and she was suspended from school after being found on the schools roof. She had claimed she was running away from someone trying to hurt her, but no other students were in the vicinity when she was found.

That's when things started to get very strange for the teenager. Approximately three weeks ago the staff in the Manor were woken up by the young girls terrified screams. Rushing to her room, her cousin Daichi – adopted by Satoshi Matsuhashi's late wife - had to kick down her door to get inside. What they found was this: Noaki was lying limbs spread on her bed, her night gown stained with her blood and what appeared to be the shapes of feathers cut into the exposed skin on her arms and thighs. Even as the group watched, another feather was cut into Noaki's neck, the welt in her skin instantly healing to created a white, feather shaped scar.

Understandable, everyone was terrified. Daichi had rushed Noaki to hospital, where the doctors had suggested she was self harming, something Daichi knew was to put it bluntly – absolute crap, as he had seen the cuts appearing himself.

Fast forward another week and Noaki was moved to the families summer home for her own safety. But the assault at night did not stop. At is wits end, he father contacted the SPR, and evidently TPR the following week.

Realising she had stopped undressing as she thought, and was now feeling foolish and cold standing in the middle of her room topless, Mai hurried got changed into her night clothes. There was something about this case Mai didn't like, but as she had not felt anything out of the ordinary at entering the house, her instinct never being something that had let her down before, Mai simply put her concern down to not having faced a case like this before.

Sure, she had had head on battles with vengeful spirits, helped save a not one but two school's students from malevolent demons, saved a family being possessed by a god, and other equally as frightening cases, she had never come across a spirit that cut shapes into a girls skin.

Figuring she should attempt to get some sleep to conserve her energy, Mai plodded on bare feet to the light switch on the wall, then felt her way through the dark to her bed, the one closes to to door. Pulling the faintly lemon smells blankets over her, Mai sighed at closed her eyes. She really hoped that this case wasn't going to be that much of a problem...

* * *

Sitting at his computer in the SPR base, Lin finished typing up the primary report for the new case. Which, considering the lack of information they had so far, was a lot shorter than he was used to. Leaning backwards on his chair and rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly, Lin decided to call it a night. Standing up after shutting down his computer, Lin made his way across the room to the door – but suddenly stopped when a soft beeping came from one of the monitors. Curious, Lin walked back to the metal shelves, eyes fixing of the monitor that was making the noise. He could see the long dimply lit corridor that led towards the bedrooms the SPR team had been allicated for the duration of the case. Mai was in the room to the left, and he, Naru and Bou – the latter two having already retired to bed – on the right.

The monitor bleeped again, and Lin reached downwards to switch the camera it was connected to to infra-red mode, and his eyes widened in surprise. The temperature in the corridor was plummeting. Very very rapidly. Quickly glancing to the separate computer to make sure it was recording, Lin leant closer to the monitor, observing with objects in the corridors seemed to be cooling faster than the others. Bizarrely, the temperature decrease seemed to be emitting from a fabric tapestry of some sort, Lin could not tell clearly what it was through the camera. The temperature kept dropping, finally seeming to settle at minus five degrees. Then, just as suddenly as it started, the monitor bleeped once more, and the temperature almost clicked back to normal. Startled, Lin continued to stare at the grainy image for the next few minutes. When nothing else happened, Lin stood up, still frowning. Making a mental note to inform Naru of the instance the next morning, Lin walked away from the monitors and turned off the room's light. Something told him this case was going to be a lot more complicated than any of them had thought...


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

She was cold. Very _very_ cold. The bottoms of her feet felt frozen to the cold wood beneath her, her toes very rapidly going from numb to painful.

Trying to ignore the increasing cold surround her. Mai forced herself to focus on her surroundings. She knew this was a dream...the same way she knew that she was somewhere inside the Mastuhashi manor.

But it seemed...different somehow.

The furniture and décor was the same. The electric lights hanging above her – although emitting nothing but a sad glow – told her she was in the present. Or at least, in general time period that the Mastuhashi's had moved in to the house.

Shivering, Mai wrapped her arms around her middle. Her eyes constantly moving around the corridor she was standing in, trying to memorise everything that could be relevant for the case. But as her expelled breath formed a thick foggy cloud in front of her, Mai found herself desperately wishing she worn something warmer to bed.

But then again, Mai scowled mentally, her pyjama set was perfectly acceptable for a nicely heated bedroom. She hadn't exactly planned to walk around in the middle of the night. Particularly down cold, creepily lit corridors.

Snapping herself out of her musings, Mai started to fidget and bought her frigid hands up to her mouth and blew on them, trying in vain to warm them up. She was surprised when her supposedly warm breath – proved by the misty clouds appearing every time she took a breath – blew across her hands in a icy cold puff.

Raising her hands to eye level she curiously blew another breath on them, and sure enough, another icy cold breeze assaulted her already cold fingers.

Frowning, Mai lowered her hands and took a sharper look around her. When creepy haunted mansions were involved, cold breath meant that there was usually spirit lurking around close by. She had experienced a severe cold in her dreams before without any spiritual activity, but her luck was never something that she could rely on in her dreams...

With that thought in mind, Mai instantly went on alert. She didn't even have to mentally tell herself to take note...Naru would verbally skin her alive if she woke up without any useful information.

Deciding to walk around in an attempt to warm her poor feet up...Mai started down the dimly lit corridor. Only slightly familiar with the layout of the house after her brief tour earlier – by tour she meant the three hours she spend lugging camera's around and taking temperatures – she guessed she was on the third floor on the manor. That guess was simply an assumption going on the unfamiliar colours but familiar layout of the corridor.

Shuffling determinedly along, Mai allowed her feet to drag along the equally cold rugs. Hoping the rough material would cause enough friction on her feet to warm her up. It didn't. The carpets seemed to be keeping with the 'several degrees below freezing' theme the rest of her dream was. The rough material simply made her feet itchy – but it was better than walking on the wooden flooring that was stained black by the dim light. Floors she knew would be a whole lot colder than the carpet.

Wishing she had some sort of flash light that she could use to brighten the hallway, Mai walked down the full length of the hall before coming to a stop at a junction. To her right and left there were identical corridors. Each one leading to a closed door. The one of the left was considerably darker than the right, and the feeling of uneasiness she'd started to have since the cold breath incident increased as she faced it.

Well, to the right it was.

Glancing behind her at the corridor she had just walked down, Mai intentionally made a mental note of a rather ugly painting hanging closest to her on the wall. If she got lost, or needed to make a sudden exit, she was aim towards her new 'checkpoint'. Not surprisingly, a wave of sadness and grief washed over her.

Gene had been the one who had told her to make checkpoints in her dreams...he had said she should treat her nocturnal adventures as an RPG game, that she could 'reset the game' or simply run back to a place she deemed safer when she was scared. It was one of the last things he had taught her before Naru had found his body...before both he and his narcissistic twin had literally flown out of her life. One had come back though...after half a year away and not even a single word of contact.

And she was almost deliriously happy about that but...she knew she was being selfish hoping that Gene would come back too.

He had passed on...to a much better place she hoped. But she missed him. Desperately missed him. During particularly bad cases he was her rock...the one thing that helped keep her sanity when things got just a little to much for her dream self to handle. Was it so wrong to want her knight back?

Mai sighed. She knew the answer to that. It was wrong.

It was very _very_ wrong.

Naru had come back to her...her egotistical, narcissistic, big-headed jerk of a boss...who she still just-so-happened to be in love with. But...she had come to terms with the fact she was only an employee to him – a friend and most - during the time he was away. Now she was content with simply being at his side.

Breaking into her depressing thoughts, the door at the end of the dark corridor suddenly slammed open, with so much force the paintings closest to it crashed to the ground. Shrieking in alarm, Mai staggered backwards, instinctively moving away from the possible danger. But her feet got tangled together and the carpet flew from beneath her.

Mai hit the floor with a dull _thud. _Pain instantly assaulting her back and thighs as she landed unceremoniously on her butt.

But she had leapt to her feet before the pain had fully registered. Instantly raising her hands in preparation to form the nine seals, Mai span to face the direction of the door. She had wondered a small distance during her inner musings, and from where she was, she could not see the left corridor, or the door.

Swearing at herself, Mai risked a glanced behind her to assess how far the right side door was. This corridor _was_ safer, she knew this for certain now. But would what ever was behind the doorway closest to her protect her from what ever had come out of the one behind her?

In the end, her new corridor companion made the choice for her. A high pitched screech suddenly assaulted her ears, and the very air around her erupted with noise. And then all hell broke loose.

With an almighty _crack_, the walls on either side of her gouged inwards, then popped back out with enough force, and the wooden frame exploded into pieces.

Screaming, Mai's hands instinctively dropped her arms from their protective stance to cover her head, and she was pelted with thousands of shards of wood. Her already flimsy clothing pulsed and jerked around her as splinters sharper than blades physically pulled her clothing away from her body. The newly exposed skin instantly turning raw and pink as the wooden blades met with newly releaved skin.

Staggering backwards again, Mai tried to back towards the doorway, but screamed again as the ceramic potery decorading the hallway, and the stands they were sitting on also joined the fray. Now panicing, Mai dropped her arms and, turning away from the morbid dance of ceramic and wood destroying the hallway, made a mad dash towards to door.

She collided it heavily, hitting it with enough force she was bounced right off it, and once again she rather painfully met the ground. But as before, she was up and throwing herself against the wooden plain desperately, before the pain of her fall had even registered.

Now screaming hysterically, Mai pounded, pulled and threw herself against the door simultaneously. At some point her focused mind had been replaced with panic. Pure white hot fear that clouded any rational thoughts she could scrape together.

"NARU! BOU!" Mai screamed, her fist pummelling the door so hard she left dents.

"SOMEBODY WAKE ME UP!" The girl screeched, and that was when several strange things seemed to happen at once. A shrill, very familiar whistle rang through the air, startling Mai so much so momentarily regained control of her thoughts, with relief and delight fighting for place on her face, Mai dared turn to the carnage behind her.

When she saw had her falling backwards in sheer terror, which is when the second of the strange instances happened. In front of her was a wolf. A huge, misty, out of focus wolf that was staring directly at her. It jaws peeled back to reveal thick, white teeth and blacked gums. But it was the creatures eyes that caused Mai to throw herself backwards.

They were black. Deep, old, bottomless pools of obsidian that stared into her own chocolate orbs...protectively?

Now on the edge of what could be considered a mental breakdown, Mai toppled backwards into the abused door...or rather, into a pair of dark skinned muscled arms. Her consciousness giving up its battle to stay alert, Mai felt the mental tug that told her she she was being forced from her dream. As she blacked out, Mai felt the arms wrench her backwards. Through the now open door way and into a sea of blessed unconsciousness.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Situated exactly one floor up from the female sleeping quarters assigned to the SPR, the four members that made up Torashi Paranormal Research were still hard at work.

Samantha was sprawled across the off-brown sofa placed at the far end of the small room, her ankles crossed as she balanced thin folders of paper on her lap. Most of the case work she was reading had fallen to the ground at some point that night, and now lay scattered like large square petals across the wooden flooring. Their haphazard pattern across the floor acting as some sort of path towards the other members of the TPR.

Shouji was closest.

Shouji Inuhashi, the groups self-proclaimed secretary. His job was to simply observe the monitors, make notes and file the paper work that needed filing. Although, most of the paperwork he had manage to salvage from his younger co-worker was currently being used as a pillow.

Sitting across from Shouji was Aoi Hana. Samantha's boss but the second in command of the TPR. A strict woman in appearance and attitude, Aoi's business catch phrase was 'no nonsense' – which considering her profession (in Sam's opinion) was being over enthusiastic. Ghost's had a habit of misbehaving...

And then there was the final member of the TPR: Simon Torashi.

Foreign, tall and looking like something straight out of an English western movie. Simon was the owner and founder of Torashi Paranormal Research. The group, although small, had already developed a positive reputation in Japan, regardless to their native countries being either America or England. It was this reputation alone which had caused Satoshi Matsuhashi to contact them about his daughter.

Fast forward twenty four hours and here they all were.

Breaking in the comfortable silence that had settled over the room, Sam let out a loud groan and stretched her arms high above her head, working out the kink that had formed from sitting still for too long. The paperwork that was left on her lap slid to the floor noisily, and Sam looked down at them with disinterest before raising her eyes to her boss, or rather, her boss's boss.

"Can we call it a night?" She asked. Simon turned his head slightly to acknowledge her, then turned back to where he was watching their monitors.

"Did you go near the tapestry on the first floor this morning?" He asked, ignoring her question. Frowning, Sam stood up and stepped over the fallen paper to stand next to him. Several of the camera's were switched to infra-red mode, Simon seemed to be focusing on the one closest to him on the left.

On the screen there was a looping video of the corridor Sam had walked thorough earlier that day, and, as she watched, the video suddenly started to change colours, indicating the temperature dropping very rapidly within the corridor. The pretty tapestry she had wiped her hands on seemed to be the object affecting the rest of the corridor.

Frowning, Sam leant over Simon's shoulder to get a better look at the screen.

"When did this happen?"

"About half an hour ago"

Scowling, Sam turned slightly to frown at the older man.

"Why didn't you say anything?" She asked, pulling an annoyed face. Simon glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow. With Simon, she knew that was the most detailed answer she was going to get.

That look roughly translated to: I tired to tell you, you just weren't listening.

Turning back to the camera, the girl watched as the picture gave a small twitch and the tape replayed itself. Focusing on the very blue shape that was the tapestry, Sam bit her lip, thinking.

Was _she_ the cause of that? Or was it a mere coincidence?

"I used the tapestry to wipe my hands earlier..." She mused out loud, half intentionally answering Simon's question.

"Why did you use an expensive tapestry to clean your hands?" Aoi's stern voice suddenly snapped from directly behind her. Sam started and turned to face the older woman. She hadn't heard her get out of her seat... or even walk across the room.

"I used it to _wipe_ the remains of a trace off my hands"

And at that statement, Sam became the centre of attention. Aoi's eyes widened dramatically and the vein on her forehead started to pulse – a sure sign that she was about to explode. Simon simply turned fully to stare at her, his eyes as unreadable as always.

Shouji, who had only been dozing, gave her his full attention by flipping his head over so he could stare at his co-workers without having to actually get up.

Sam sighed and rolled her eyes, then held up a hand to stop the onslaught of questions she knew were about to spew out of Aoi's mouth.

"_No_ I haven't been traced, _no _I haven't put a trace on anyone in this house – dead or alive, and _no_, I have not made myself visible to what ever is being are spooky"

Still smarting, Aoi scowled angrily and glanced at Simon, giving him permission to continue the interrogation. Where Sam was concerned, they had a 'Good cop, bad cop' collaboration going on.

But Simon simply stared at the girl until she gave a defeated smile and sighed.

"I met the 'competition' today. Shibuya Psychic Research...I went to say hello, and though it would be rather rude of me to leave their base without either A: Informing them that two of their members had traces on them, or B: Removing it completely"

"You removed two traces? Damn kid...feeling extra stupid today?" Shouji slurred from his perch, his words muffled by the pile of paperwork pressed against the side of his face Sam flipped him the bird as a response and turned back towards Aoi and her pulsing vein. Surprisingly though, it was Simon who told her off.

"That was an incredible stupid and naive thing to do Samantha" His deep voice reprimanded, and for a brief second Sam felt guilty. But the the feeling left as soon as it came and she turned toward the older man.

"I agree, but I still did it. If whatever is in this house is as bad as you think, then regardless to the SPR's reputation, I honestly think they had no idea that they had been targeted. 'To late' is never a good time for you to realise you've got a pissed off spook following you..."

Simon sighed and leant back in his chair, dark eyes observing as he took in his youngest assistant. He had a feeling this girl had absolutely no sense of self-preservation when it came to her own safety on cases...but, that's what he was here for, wasn't it? Even so...she needed telling off.

"You know better than anyone who is the manager of Shibuya Psychic Research is Sam. I doubt someone like Oliver Davies is going to let a 'pissed of spook' hurt any member of his team" Simon said.

And the girl pulled a face.

But before she had chance to respond however, a shrill terrified scream suddenly rang through the house, coming from directly below them.

Simon stood up so abruptly his chair fell backwards with a loud _bang, _and Shouji - who had dozed off again – feel sideways onto the floor in shock. Eyes wide, both Aoi and Sam turned on their heels and flew out the door, Aoi's heels clicking loudly on the cold flooring. Picking himself up, Shouji raced after them, a post-it stuck to his cheek comically.

Just as he stepped forward to chase his employee's out the door, Simon both felt and heard a harsh mental tug on his consciousness, and suddenly he simply _understood_.

Closing his eyes, Simon allowed himself to be half-dragged into his subconscious, 'seeing' himself falling downwards to a splintering door that seemed to be pulsing and jerking as something threw itself against it from the other side. The girls terrified scream became louder as he drifted closer, her words muffled and broken, almost as if he were listening to a recording.

Looking at the door cautiously for a second, Simon raised her fingers to his mouth and blew shrilly, calling his spirit guide to the other side of the door.

If this girl was a dream psychic – something that was now quite obvious, she needed help.

Simon felt another tug in his mind, and his knew his guide was now behind the now steadily fading doorway and guarding the trapped girl on the other side. He felt the exact moment the girl registered that she was no longer 'alone'

_Lin...?! _

The whispered thought drifted through the wood of the door, along with several super-speed emotions. Confusion, delight, relief, and then pure and utter terror.

Suddenly lunging himself forwards, Simon reached downwards and took hold of the door handle. Wrenching it open, and then holding out his arms as a small, brown haired Japanese girl all but toppled into them. Wrapping his arms around her, Simon used what ever power he had left in this dream-world to forcefully throw the girl back into consciousness, and the same time wrenching her backwards through the door.

As the door slammed shut, the abused wood exploding into a shower of silent splinters and soft darkness, the small girl faded from his arms, and back with his body in the Mastuhashi Mannor, her screams abruptly stopped.


	6. Chapter 5

White Feathers – Chapter Five

**AN:** Last authors note for a while, as I've decided to stop dragging my heels and finally finish this. I know there is nothing worse then getting into a story, then finding unfinished and it hasn't been updated for a while...my bad.

Firstly, to answer my reviewers!:

**Lisa:** Can't remember if I answered you before ^_^'' Thank you for the review! And for the lovely feedback :D Ill admit that I lost all interest in this for a while, and it was only after reading my reviews again that I became motivated enough to update it. So thank you for that.

**Purple Dragon Tamer:** Thank you! I'm happy I'm managing to keep you interested :P

**Melodyann75:** Gosh, thank you! You always know your doing a good job when someone compliments your characters, as well as your story. I'm not trying to make the TRP the main characters in this, they are, of sorts, the SPR's 'rivals' on this case. But they are the good guys, trust me on that.

**NoCoolNameHere:** You know, I'm going to take that as a compliment ;P. The very fact they are annoying you means I've written them well enough they are invoking both positive and negative responses in people. Feeling rather proud of myself now.^_^

One last thing: Who are Torashi Paranormal Research?

Owner: Simon Torashi. Age, 30. He has the same sort of ability as Lin, he can summon spirits to do his bidding. He only has one spirit however, the silver wolf Mai met in the last chapter. He is also a dream psychic, although he does not use this abilty often.

Co-Owner/ 2nd in command: Aoi Hana. Age, 27. Strict, unforgiving and somewhat of a neat freak. However, in contrast to her appearance and mentality, Aoi is a very strong Empath. She can sense other peoples emotions, and can broadcast her own into other people. Strangely though, she cannot use this ability when the person she is focusing is asleep, and vice versa.

Simon's assistant: Shouji Inuhashi. Age, 24. Aside from his experience with computers, Shouji does not have any psychic ability. Apart from his self claimed ability to being able to judge when people sneeze, Shouji is the only member of TRP who is 'normal'.

Aoi's assistant: Samatha Laurel. Age, 21. Sam is a bit of a wild card. Not even Simon knows the full extent of her powers. She has the ability to remove and place psychic traces on both the living and dead. She also has very week telepathy, although she doesn't know how to use it.

* * *

Somebody was holding her down.

Restraining her, keeping her still. She was trapped. With her throat raw from screaming, and her body pulled taught in the blind panic that was still racing through her veins, Mai lashed out. Her eyes clamped themselves together as her hands ripped upwards, colliding heavily with the side of someone's cheek, and thumbing against a muscles shoulder

She heard a startled grunt, and the weight pinning her down relaxed slightly.

Mai kicked her feet frantically under her blankets, struggling as hard as she could to _get away._

At the back of her mind, she couldn't understand why she was so _scared. _No, she was out-of-her-mind_ terrified. _

Still gasping heavily, Mai forced her eyes open, making out the blurred shape of a man dressed in dark clothes leaning over her. Her foot shot upwards, colliding heavily with the man's stomach. He grunted again, this time rearing backwards as the wind was knocked out of him.

She heard someone shout something, but the ringing in her ears refused to let her hear anything more than a muffled shout.

Throwing herself sideways, Mai rolled herself off the bed, crab crawling backwards away from the dark shape until her back hit against a wall.

There was a sudden loud bang, the door slamming open with enough force it ricochetted off the wall.

More voices.

A woman's voice...she knew that voice..._Didn't she_?

The dark shape, the one she hurt, suddenly appeared in front of her in a crouch, a safe distant away.

There was that muffle shout again, and the dark shape raised its arms, carefully. As if it was trying to calm her down. And the another dark shape sat down on her other side. This shape was smaller, feminine, but she didn't know this shape. It wasn't safe...?

_Its Ok..._

The thought suddenly washed over her body, and Mai found herself drawing in a deep breath.

_Shh...your OK. Its all right..._

And then, suddenly, strangely, it was.

Her vision, though still blurry, focused. Her body stopped shaking, if only slightly. Letting out a deep watery gasp, Mai looked up.

She had backed herself right into the corner, her body curled into a tight ball that only relaxed when she realised she was staring directly into a pair of familiar, beautiful, dark blue eyes.

"Naru...?" She wheezed. She didn't give him time to respond. Lurching herself forwards onto her knees, Mai crawled across the short distance between them and threw herself at him with enough strength he fell backwards onto his rear, his arms enclosing her body through reflex.

For a short while, the room was silent. Standing on the other side of Mai's recently vacated bed, was Bou. He was leaning against the wall, looking sleepy, scared and thoroughly confused. Lin stood a few feet away from him, his white shirt hanging unbuttoned so his bare chest was partially visible. When he had heard Mai's screams, he had been in the process of undressing, and had simply ran from the room.

Standing in the door way was Shouji. The post-it was still stuck to the side of his face. He let out a deep huff and ran his hands through short dark hair, then blinked as his wrist caught the edge of the post it and pulled it off. He stared at it for a second before scrunching it up and simply throwing it behind him.

In the end, it was Shouji who broke the startled silence.

"Is...is she OK?" He asked, quietly, as if another loud noise might send Mai into another panic attack.

No one answered him. Nobody could. Even Lin and Bou were to shocked to answer. In all their years of knowing Mai, and knowing how violent some of her dreams were, they had never seen her this scared.

The girl herself had wrapped her arms around Naru's neck, her body curled against his as she let out dry sounding sobs that shook her entire body. It didn't seem as though she would be letting go any time soon.

Sam walked cautiously into the room, stepping around the two on the floor to kneel next to her friend.

"Aoi?" She asked softly. Aoi frowned and placed a careful hand on Mai's back, taking note of Naru's sharp gaze following her movement.

"Shes OK" The older woman said, her voice soft as she ran her hand comfortingly over Mai's shoulder blades.

"Poor thing has received quite a scare. Nothing a cup of hot chocolate and some TLC shouldn't be able to cure, hmm?"

Naru watched the interaction carefully, listening the woman's soft tones. Mai was visibly relaxing. Her death hold around his neck had loosened, and her head even slightly turned towards the newcomer. Naru couldn't understand exactly what was going on, but one thing he was sure of, was that this woman was doing something to Mai's mindset. She was calming her, relaxing her. How, he didn't know, but that was something he was defiantly going to investigate.

As soon as Mai let him up off the floor that is.

In the corner of the room, Bou finally stood up and looked around the room, as if suddenly registering there were a few new faces.

"OK, can someone please explain to me what exactly just happened?" He asked, to no one in particular.

The answer came from the doorway.

"She was attacked by the entity in this house" All heads, besides Mai's, turned towards the door, and Simon walked into view. As such, only Naru and Aoi noticed the sudden jerk Mai gave. Naru tightened his hold, and Aoi made shushing noises.

"Attacked?" Bou asked. Simon nodded.

"In her dream"

Bou opened his mouth to voice another question, but the sound of Aoi clearing her throat stopped him. The woman removed her hand from Mai's back and stood up, straightening her skirt and smoothing her hair in one smooth motion. Gone was the soothing attitude and voice as she addressed the men in the room.

"I'm sure we all have questions, but at this present moment, the young miss is in no state to answer them. Perhaps we should all regroup in a more appropriate place and allow the young lady to be more suitable clothed"

Translated: get out so she can get changed.

Sam also stood up and looked down at Naru. He stared back coolly, managing to look professional even though he was sitting on the floor with a partially clothed woman in his arms.

"We can help her get changed, if your worried about leaving her on her own" Sam said, without a trace of her usual sarcasm. Naru looked at her for a second, before nodding and -somehow- managing to lift himself and Mai to their feet. Mai still kept her hold on him, but was easily convinced to let go when Sam stepped forwards and put her hands on her arms.

Surprisingly, it was Aoi's hand she reached for when Naru stepped away.

"We shall be waiting in our base, when she's ready" He said. Giving Mai one last look, he walked from the room, Gesturing for Lin and Bou to follow him. Shouji side stepped out of their way, and waited for Simon to reach past him. The older man nodded at Aoi and flicked a glance at Sam. Then, as if knowing the damage the door had already been forced to endure, he pulled it shut quietly behind him, and the women were left alone with the sound of a soft click.


	7. Chapter 6

It took a lot more effort than either or the TPR woman has suspected to get Mai changed into her clothing.

For starters, she wouldn't let go of Aoi's hand. Now that Naru had left the room, Aoi had become the new anchor. Not surprising considering the calm aura Aoi was admitting, but it made getting her top on a little difficult.

She also refused to sit on her bed, instead she had placed herself back on the floor, taking Aoi with her.

But they managed to work around it.

Sam chose a long blue skirt from Mai's suitcase and managed to slip it on her. A skirt seemed easier since it didn't require having to manoeuvre Mai's legs through awkward holes. And the clothing covered her legs to just above her ankles. Something Aoi suggested, as anything shorter may leave Mai feeling 'exposed'.

The top was a little more complicated. Even after tipping all of Mai's clothes onto her bed, Sam couldn't find anything larger than a t-shirt. So they settled for the largest t-shirt they could find, and Sam donated her own button up jumper. In turn, she borrowed on of Mai's. The other option would to be walking through the house back to her room in nothing but a bra and jeans. Thinking about her room bought a question into her mind.

"Are we going to move her up to our room?" She asked. Aoi, who was contemplating how to get Mai's arm into her shirt without having to get in there herself, gave a soft hum in response.

"That would be the most logical suggestion. However..." Aoi trailed off, frowning. Sam looked at her questioningly.

"I don't think the other members of her team will be particularly happy about leaving her with us. We are, after all, both strangers and rivals whilst we are in this house"

Sam sighed and looked at the girl below them. Her eyes were still blank, but she could tell that she was listening to them.

"I suppose...but, I would never have guess she was a dream psychic" Sam said, tilting her head and looking thoughtful. Having managed to convince Mai to let go of her hand long enough to to slip her arm into her t-shirt (and Sam's jumper) Aoi carefully buttoned up the out layer before answering her.

"Did you have no inclination when you met her earlier?" The older woman asked. Sam shook her head and chose to sit herself down on the floor next to them.

"Not a clue. I sensed a lot of power from Kazuya. The one who looks like a rock star is obviously a monk...and the talk creppy looking one has spirit guides. Like Simon"

At that, Aoi looked up her curiously.

"Oh?"

Sam nodded, and reached behind her to grab a pair of socks she had dropped their earlier. Passing one to Aoi so they both could put them on the almost comatose girl.

"But he doesn't seem to be much of a talker...like Simon. Maybe we should lock them both in a room together and see if they can out not-talk each other? Just sit there are stare. Maybe throw a tumble-weed in for dramatic effect?" Sam joked, Aoi pulled her face and was about to give her a reprimand, when a the girl between them let out a small giggle, obviously amused.

Aoi's eyes widened and she allowed herself a smile. Then, she pulled herself upright, holding out a hand to Mai as she did.

"The others are waiting for us in your base. We should go join them"

Mai nodded in agreement and allowed herself to be pulled up.

* * *

Sitting quietly on his bed, situation in the west wing of Matsuhashi Manor, Tomago let out a sigh. The girls screams had echoed over entire house, startling the elderly butter out of a light sleep.

He did not go to her aid. He knew her companions would take care of her, and from the sheer amount of footsteps he had heard charging around a few minutes after her screams had started, he knew the older paranormal research team would also be by her side.

She would be fine.

Letting out an exhausted sigh, Tomago lifted old eyes to stare almost longingly at the ceiling above him. Seeing something only he could see.

"Is she really that important...?" The man whispered, speaking to the air around him. His eyes became distant and watered with unshod tears. The silence around him seemed to become thicker...the shadows darkening and elongating, stretching from darkened corner towards the man sitting on his bed.

"Yes...I suppose she is isn't she...That silly little girl" He said, a slight laugh escaping from his lips. He then let out another deep, long suffering sigh.

"I just hope you know what you are doing...my love"


End file.
